| UFC 248: Adesanya vs. Romero | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 The poster for UFC 248: Adesanya vs. Romero | ||||
| Promotion | Ultimate Fighting Championship | |||
| Date | March 7, 2020 (2020-03-07) | |||
| Venue | T-Mobile Arena | |||
| City | Paradise, Nevada, United States | |||
| Attendance | 15,077[1] | |||
| Total gate | $2,742,906.20[1] | |||
| Event chronology | ||||
| ||||
UFC 248: Adesanya vs. Romero was amixed martial arts event produced by theUltimate Fighting Championship that took place on March 7, 2020 at theT-Mobile Arena inParadise, Nevada, part of theLas Vegas Metropolitan Area, United States.[2][3]
AUFC Middleweight Championship bout between the current championIsrael Adesanya and former interim title challenger (as well as2000 Olympic silver medalist and former world champion infreestyle wrestling)Yoel Romero headlined the event.[4]
AUFC Women's Strawweight Championship bout between the current championZhang Weili and former championJoanna Jędrzejczyk took place as the co-main event.[5]
A middleweight bout between former championRobert Whittaker (alsoThe Ultimate Fighter: The Smashes welterweight winner) andJared Cannonier was expected to take place at this event.[6] However, it was announced on January 15 that Whittaker pulled out of the bout.[7] Subsequently, promotion officials announced that Cannonier would be on standby in the event that one of the main event participants were to pull out of that contest.[8] In turn, Cannonier indicated in mid-February that he had suffered a torn pectoral injury while training and would be sidelined for several months.[9]
A bantamweight bout betweenSean O'Malley andThe Ultimate Fighter: Latin America bantamweight winnerJosé Alberto Quiñónez was originally scheduled to take place atUFC 229. However, it was scrapped after O'Malley failed aUnited States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) drug test.[10] The bout was then expected to take place atUFC 247, but it was eventually moved to this event for unknown reasons.[11]
While not officially announced by the organization, a featherweight bout betweenCalvin Kattar andJeremy Stephens was expected to take place at the event.[12] However, Stephens was removed from the card in mid-January with an injury.[13] The pairing was left intact and rescheduled forUFC 249.[14]
A featherweight bout betweenDouglas Silva de Andrade andMovsar Evloev was scheduled to take place at the event. However, de Andrade withdrew from the bout due to injury and was replaced by promotional newcomerJamall Emmers.[15] Subsequently, Evloev pulled out of the fight in late February citing injuries sustained in a road accident.[16] He was replaced byGiga Chikadze.[17]
A middleweight bout betweenDerek Brunson andEdmen Shahbazyan was scheduled to take place at the event. However, it was announced on February 20 that the bout had moved toUFC Fight Night: Overeem vs. Harris.[18]
At the weigh-ins,Emily Whitmire weighed in at 117.5 pounds, 1.5 pounds over the strawweight non-title fight limit of 116 pounds. She was fined 20% of her purse and her bout withPolyana Viana was expected to proceed as scheduled at a catchweight.[19] However, Whitmire was hospitalized the day of the event and the fight was cancelled.[20]
| Main Card | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weight class | Method | Round | Time | Notes | |||
| Middleweight | Israel Adesanya (c) | def. | Yoel Romero | Decision (unanimous) (48–47, 48–47, 49–46) | 5 | 5:00 | [a] |
| Women's Strawweight | Zhang Weili (c) | def. | Joanna Jędrzejczyk | Decision (split) (48–47, 47–48, 48–47) | 5 | 5:00 | [b] |
| Lightweight | Beneil Dariush | def. | Drakkar Klose | KO (punch) | 2 | 1:00 | |
| Welterweight | Neil Magny | def. | Li Jingliang | Decision (unanimous) (30–27, 30–27, 30–27) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Welterweight | Alex Oliveira | def. | Max Griffin | Decision (split) (28–29, 29–28, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Preliminary Card (ESPN) | |||||||
| Bantamweight | Sean O'Malley | def. | José Alberto Quiñónez | TKO (head kick and punches) | 1 | 2:02 | |
| Lightweight | Mark Madsen | def. | Austin Hubbard | Decision (unanimous) (29–28, 29–28, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Middleweight | Rodolfo Vieira | def. | Saparbek Safarov | Submission (arm-triangle choke) | 1 | 2:58 | |
| Middleweight | Gerald Meerschaert | def. | Deron Winn | Submission (rear-naked choke) | 3 | 2:13 | |
| Early Preliminary Card (ESPN+) | |||||||
| Featherweight | Giga Chikadze | def. | Jamall Emmers | Decision (split) (29–28, 28–29, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Bantamweight | Danaa Batgerel | def. | Guido Cannetti | KO (punches) | 1 | 3:01 | |
The following fighters received $50,000 bonuses.[22]
The following is the reported payout to the fighters as reported to theNevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC). It does not include sponsor money and also does not include the UFC's traditional "fight night" bonuses. The total disclosed payout for the event was $2,086,000.[23]
On September 3, it was announced that theNevada State Athletic Commission (NAC) suspendedDeron Winn for nine months and fined him fined $1,800 after he tested positive for amphetamines in relation to this event. The suspension is retroactive to the date of the positive test.[24]
